


Eight Years Later

by ivorygates



Series: Roses In December [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8159701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorygates/pseuds/ivorygates
Summary: What it says on the tin.





	

On the day she hands in her resignation from SG-1 (permanent, formal, and he can tell it hurts her, even though they've been going out with a new fourth -- that she hand-picked and terrorized -- for weeks, because SG-1 has been _hers_ for half her life, and even though this is far from the end of her trips through the Gate, it's the end of something he knows she never really wanted to let go of) they ride home together, the way they almost always do. And she asks him the question he's been hoping to hear.

"So," she says. "Are you planning to make an honest woman of me now?"

And he says, "Sure, baby. All you had to do was ask."

#

She doesn't know whether Cam's announced their engagement (which is a ludicrous notion anyway, since they've been living together for the last eight years.) They've set a date for the ceremony (civil, simple, quiet) and are working their way through the bureaucracy (Cam needs permission from General Hunnicutt to marry, just to begin with.) She's trying to get used to the idea that her days (all of them now) will begin and end at her desk. It gives her an odd feeling of claustrophobia: members of the Teams who've been invalided off actually have a word for it. Gatesick. They say it goes away eventually.

She knows it was the right choice to make, but it still hurts.

A week after she's turned in her papers, Cam comes to her with a box. It's green velvet. Battered. Old.

"This is for you," Cam says.

The ring is old. A small diamond set in platinum, mounted on a gold band softly burnished by the passage of years. It fits perfectly; he must have had it sized for her.

He slips it onto her finger. She looks down at the ring, then up at him, wanting the story.

"It was my great-Gran'ma's," Cam says.

Dani knows that heirloom jewelry -- particularly engagement rings -- are passed around the Mitchell family by a complex system that she still doesn't fully understand. She knows enough, however, to know that it's a great honor to receive one of them -- not every one who marries into the family does -- and that she's expected to pass it on to one of her own children, providing she feels they've chosen a suitable bride. Great-Gran'ma Mitchell's engagement ring has been in Momma's keeping for years.

"Cam," she says. Slowly. Reluctantly. "We're ... not going to have any children."

He knows that already. He's known that for years.

"Sure, sure," he says, smiling at her. "But Ash's got three already. Figure one of the boys's got to turn out okay."

"True," she says. Cam's younger brother, but married years ago. You marry to advance, in the military. The only reason Cam made Colonel as a bachelor was that with his record they couldn't _not_ promote him. And the SGC operates under its own rules. Has for years. In any other command, half the things he's done over the years would have gotten him court-martialed, not promoted. And she simply wouldn't have been there at all.

She stares at the ring on her finger. It sparkles.

The wedding's tomorrow. A short engagement, from here to there. Sammy will be there, Teal'c (if the message reached him in time and he can get away from the Parliament), Ry'ac and Jenn. All the members of SG-1 that still survive. Enough for witnesses.   
And then she'll have come full circle, from the first day she saw Cameron Mitchell standing in General Landry's office. She barely remembers the woman she was then. Such a long time ago, in one way. Only yesterday, in another.

"So what do you want to do after we're married?" she asks.

"Well, you know, I'm thinking we all go out for ice cream," Cam answers, in tones that indicate he's been giving the matter serious thought. "You just know how Teal'c loves ice cream."

And she laughs, and hugs him, and he hugs her back.

The ring sparkles.

###

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly Disclosure would have happened somewhere in here. I just want you to know I know.


End file.
